After putting his own spin on one of the most famous vampire stories of all time, horror’s biggest history nerd is about to go even further into the annals of the past:Â The Hollywood Reporter has just revealed that Robert Eggers’ next project is going to be set in the 13th century, and is due out around Christmas 2026. Naturally, this one will be about werewolves.
The movie is set to be called “Werwulf,” and in addition to directing it, “Nosferatu” and “The Witch” filmmaker Eggers is also co-writing the script with Sjón, the Icelandic poet, author, and screenwriter who helped pen “The Northman” in 2022. Despite exploring a more monochromatic color palette with last year’s “Nosferatu,” THR reports that Eggers has decided to shoot the upcoming film in color after initially planning a black-and-white shoot. He also appears to be getting back to his deeply geeky historically-informed roots, as the outlet’s source says the England-set monster thriller will use period-specific dialogue and feature an unusual visual choice: annotations and translations for Old English words.
Robert Eggers’ Werwulf will be set in England in the Middle Ages
It’s worth noting that people in the time period in question actually spoke Middle English, though it’s unclear whether the source misspoke on that point (the two are commonly confused). Regardless, it’s thrilling to hear that the hyper-disciplined and detail-oriented filmmaker is going to get into the weeds linguistically, as Eggers’ first three movies (A24’s “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse” and Focus Features’ “The Northman”) used singularly realistic (and challenging) dialogue, whereas his most recent film opted to make all of its German characters speak fairly modern English. Eggers will be re-teaming with Focus Features again this time around, marking the third collaboration between the director and the division of Universal Studios. Eleanor and Chris Columbus are set to executive produce the film alongside Eggers and Sjón.
Eggers’ latest film, “Nosferatu,” has proven more successful than anticipated with mainstream audiences, having raked in $156 million and counting in the weeks since its late December release. The movie, which stars Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, and Bill Skarsgard, is a moody remake of F.W. Murnau’s famed “Dracula” ripoff. It’s divided critics slightly (it currently holds an 84% Rotten Tomatoes score), but impressed several members of the /Film crew, including critic Chris Evangelista. He called the movie “simultaneously scary, sexy, strange, and sad” in his review, giving it a 9 out of 10 score.
Casting and complete plot details for “Werwulf” are still to come. The movie is set to hit theaters on December 25, 2026.